At Tuesday‘s Worldwide Business Forum Zhai Qian, consul of the Chinese General Consulate in Frankfurt, outlined China‘s energy policy, citing medium and longterm goals such as developing coal and speeding up natural gas and alternative energy development. The renewable target for 2020 is 15%, he says.
Even if China is successful in its alternative energy goals, however, the nation‘s continued urbanization and industrialization looms, especially in the context of greenhouse gas emissions. Lin Boqiang, China Center for Energy Economic Research (CCER) at Xiamen University, projected, for instance that by 2020, 300 million more people will move from rural to urban areas, thereby consuming 3.5–4 times more energy per capita.
Such growth presents multiple opportunities for Western technology providers. Jörg Wuttke, president of the European Chamber of Commerce in China alerted attendees to the possibility that China may allow certain industries such as aluminum processing to neotiate directly with energy companies and bypass the grid, However, coal to liquids projects are no longer being added, he says, due to lack of sufficient water.
Meanwhile, Philippe A. Tanguy, Total S.A. notes that development in carbon capture and storage technologies will be key, since they are not yet viable for the massive scales needed in China